Safety stopping device for marine engines

ABSTRACT

The present invention refers to a safety stopping device for marine engines and employs a cord connected at one end to the pilot of the boat and at its other end to the safety device for the grounding of the ignition circuit of the engine either by operating a pushbutton, or by ripping off said cord held between said pushbutton and a retaining head traversing said button and connected by a stem to a metallic head capable by its axial movement to connect two fixed contact terminals interposed in said ignition circuit.

iJnited States Patent [191 Lariviere, widow Giroux SAFETY STOPPINGDEVICE FOR MARINE ENGINES Inventor: Alice Louise Rosalie Lariviere,widow Giroux, 55, rue de Turbigo,

Paris, France Filed: Mar. 24, 1971 Appl. No.: 127,526

US. Cl. ..123/l48 S, 200/161, 180/99, 123/198 DC Int. Cl. ..B60I 3/02,F02p 1 1/06 Field of Search ..180/99; 1 15/70; 123/198 DC, 148 S;200/161 References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Murdock ..200/ l 61 Melal..

[451 Apr. 10, 1973 3,262,413 7/1966 Douglas ..1 15/70 2,901,757 9/1959Remington... ..1 15/70 2,377,250 5/1945 Lawson 1 ..200/161 2,540,2462/1951 Roe 200/ 1 61 Primary Examiner-Laurence M. Goodridge AssistantExaminer-Cort R. Flint AttorneyLinton & Linton ABSTRACT 7 Claims, 4Drawing Figures PATENTEDAPRJ 019B 3.726.264

Fig.1 7 4 l0 5 6 JMvEuToR ALICE LOULYE KOS/HJE LBRlV/ERE wwow GIROUX By"w g/Z SAFETY STOPPING DEVICE FOR MARINE ENGINES The present inventionrelates to an improvement in safety devices for stopping marine engines.

Two cycle marine engines with a magnetic flywheel are originallyprovided with a stop button for grounding the ignition circuit, and someengines have a safety device having the same electrical function whosetriggering, subordinated to the ejection of the pilot driving the boat,is obtained by means of a flexible connection attached at one end to thepilot and connected by its other extremity to an extractable elementnormally keeping the safety device in a cocked position. This safetydevice is attached either directly to the engine, or at a certaindistance from it at any selected pointed of the boat.

Use of such safety devices has led to the observation that, in the firstcase, the manipulation of the engine assembly sometimes had the tendencyof causing the deterioration of the device while, in the second case,the flying wires connected to the device and hindering the pilot are aptto cause, during the eventual ejection of the pilot, the hooking of theelement carried by the extremity of the cord attached to said pilot.

The device of the present invention, which remedies these drawbacks, isremarkable in that the engine stopping button and the safety device arecombined in a same housing and in that the control of. the safety deviceper se, to obtain, the open or engine operating position, is obtained bymeans of a simple cord.

To this end and according to one mode of execution, the device iscomposed of a push button with elastic recall whose contact elementmounted elastically in said button and moveable axially within it, isnormally moved and locked at a certain distance from two terminals sothat it can bebrought towards said terminals either manually orautomatically independently by releasing the locking system, and saidterminals are connected to engine ignition circuit.

According to a particular feature of the invention, the locking systemof thedevice is formed by a simple cord of suitable diameter interposedbetween the push button and a retaining head extending from thecontacting element to the outside.

The invention is better understood from the following description inreference to the attached drawing, in

which:

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal section of the present safety device in theopen position;

FIG. 2 is a side view from the right side of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal section of the device in the circuit closingposition by operating the push button; and

FIG. 4 is a similar section of the device showing the closing of thecircuit by releasing the locking cord.

Referring to the drawing, the safety device is formed by an insulatinghousing formed. of four cylindrical and coaxial parts comprising athreaded connection I having a base 1' and a nut 2, for the fastening ofthe unit to any wall P, a sleeve 3 screwed to the base of saidconnection and provided with an inner. shoulder 3, a sleeve 4 slideablyextending into sleeve 3 andretained axially by a collar 4 cooperatingwith said shoulder 3' and, finally a cap 5 slideably positioned over thefirst sleeve 3.

The connection 1 constitutes the seat of two contact terminals 6connected in the usual manner, by conducting wires, to the groundcircuit to be established while the sleeve 4 and the cap 5 provide forthe independent sliding of a contacting element of said two terminalsformed by a metallic head 7 extended by a guide tail 8 terminated by aretaining head 9, fastened thereto by riveting for example.

The cap 5, intended to act as a manually controlled push putton, isconstantly subjected to the action of a recall spring 10, interposedduring assembly between it and sleeve 3, while the contacting element 7capable of being pushed by this button can itself automatically closethe circuit due to a spring 1 1, more powerful than spring 10,interposed between head 7 and sleeve 4 and normally tending to hold thecontacting head 7 applied against terminals 6.

The device thus formed, intended in the present case to be used withmarine engines, allows by the combination of the two separate movementsof the contacting element 7, to manually stop the engine at the desiredmoment or to stop it automatically in case of the accidental ejection ofthe pilot driving the boat, with these two conditions being achieved bythe presence or absence of a simple locking cord C previously engagedbetween the retaining head 9 of the contact element 7 and the cap 5 andattached by its other extremity to a part of the body of said pilot.

In fact, FIG. 1 shows that the engagement of cord C in the abovementioned manner has the effect of causing the sliding of the contactelement head 7 away from terminals 6 and compresses spring 11 bearing byits other extremity against the bottom of sleeve 4 which is normallystopped in sleeve 3 by its collar 4' under the effect of spring 10 ofcap 5.

The assembly being thus locked and held in this position, if thepushbutton formed by the assembly of parts comprising the contactingelement 7 and its spring 11, the sleeve 4, the cap 5, the cord C and thehead 9, is moved in the direction of arrow F, the manual stopping of theengine is obtained, see FIG. 3.

On the other hand, starting from the initial position represented inFIG. I, if the cord C is extracted suddenly from the place it occupiedbetween the cap 5 and the head 9, the spring 1 1, previously compressedby the contacting element 7, is released and the head 7 of the lattermeets the terminals 6 and closes the ground circuit of the motor, seeFIG. 4.

Of course the present invention is not limited to the mode of executiondescribed and represented but on the contrary extends to all variants inform, materials and dimensions.

I claim:

1. A safety device for marine engines comprising an insulating memberattachable to a support, a pair of contact terminals mounted in saidmember and connectable to the engine ignition circuit, a push buttonslideably connected to said member, a conducting head positioned forconnecting said terminals, a stem connected to said head and slideablyextending through said push button, a retaining head on said stempositioned adjacent said push button, resilient means between saidconducting head and said push button tending to retain said conductinghead connecting said terminals, a cord attachably to the pilot of a boatcontaining said engine and detachably mountable between said push buttonand said retaining head for withdrawing said conducting head from saidterminals whereby when said pilot pulls said cord it is withdrawn fromsaid retaining head and push button allowing said conducting head toconnect said terminals and means operable by said pushbutton for movingsaid conducting head to said terminals when said cord is mounted betweensaid push button and said retaining head.

2. A safety device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said means operable bysaid pushbutton consists of a sleeve slideably mounted on said stem,engaging said resilient means and positioned for being moved by saidpushbutton for compressing said resilient means and thereby moving saidconducting head to said terminals.

3. A safety device as claimed in claim 2 including further resilientmeans tending to move said pushbutton towards said retaining head.

4. A safety device as claimed in claim 2 wherein said sleeve has ashoulder through which said stem slideably extends, said resilient meansis a coil spring on said stem and is positioned between said conductinghead and said sleeve shoulder, said sleeve has a second shoulder, asecond spring is positioned between said sleeve second shoulder and saidpushbutton tending to move said pushbutton towards said retaining head.

5. A safety device as claimed in claim 4 including a second sleeveconnected to said member and having a shoulder engaging the secondshoulder of said first sleeve for limiting the movement of said firstsleeve away from said member.

6. A safety device as claimed in claim 4 wherein said first mentionedspring is stronger than said second spring.

7. A safety device for marine engines comprising an insulating memberattachable to a support, a pair of contact terminals mounted in saidmember and connectable to the engine ignition circuit, a pushbuttonslideably connected to said member, resilient means tending to move saidpushbutton from said member, conducting means resiliently retained inelectrical contact with said terminals, means connected to saidconducting means and slideably extending through said pushbutton, a cordconnectable to the pilot of a boat containing said engine and detachablypositioned between said pushbutton and said connecting means fordetachably retaining said connecting means in a position withdrawingsaid conducting means" out of contact with said terminals and saidpushbutton being capable of moving said conducting means into itsterminal contacting position independently of said connecting means.

1. A safety device for marine engines comprising an insulating memberattachable to a support, a pair of contact terminals mounted in saidmember and connectable to the engine ignition circuit, a push buttonslideably connected to said member, a conducting head positioned forconnecting said terminals, a stem connected to said head and slideablyextending through said push button, a retaining head on said stempositioned adjacent said push button, resilient means between saidconducting head and said push button tending to retain said conductinghead connecting said terminals, a cord attachably to the pilot of a boatcontaining said engine and detachably mountable between said push buttonand said retaining head for withdrawing said conducting head from saidterminals whereby when said pilot pulls said cord it is withdrawn fromsaid retaining head and push button allowing said conducting head toconnect said terminals and means operable by said pushbutton for movingsAid conducting head to said terminals when said cord is mounted betweensaid push button and said retaining head.
 2. A safety device as claimedin claim 1, wherein said means operable by said pushbutton consists of asleeve slideably mounted on said stem, engaging said resilient means andpositioned for being moved by said pushbutton for compressing saidresilient means and thereby moving said conducting head to saidterminals.
 3. A safety device as claimed in claim 2 including furtherresilient means tending to move said pushbutton towards said retaininghead.
 4. A safety device as claimed in claim 2 wherein said sleeve has ashoulder through which said stem slideably extends, said resilient meansis a coil spring on said stem and is positioned between said conductinghead and said sleeve shoulder, said sleeve has a second shoulder, asecond spring is positioned between said sleeve second shoulder and saidpushbutton tending to move said pushbutton towards said retaining head.5. A safety device as claimed in claim 4 including a second sleeveconnected to said member and having a shoulder engaging the secondshoulder of said first sleeve for limiting the movement of said firstsleeve away from said member.
 6. A safety device as claimed in claim 4wherein said first mentioned spring is stronger than said second spring.7. A safety device for marine engines comprising an insulating memberattachable to a support, a pair of contact terminals mounted in saidmember and connectable to the engine ignition circuit, a pushbuttonslideably connected to said member, resilient means tending to move saidpushbutton from said member, conducting means resiliently retained inelectrical contact with said terminals, means connected to saidconducting means and slideably extending through said pushbutton, a cordconnectable to the pilot of a boat containing said engine and detachablypositioned between said pushbutton and said connecting means fordetachably retaining said connecting means in a position withdrawingsaid conducting means out of contact with said terminals and saidpushbutton being capable of moving said conducting means into itsterminal contacting position independently of said connecting means.